My teacher greets students by name as she makes eye contact with them when they walk in. She has a “Do Now” up on the projector screen so that as soon as students walk in they can get focused. She also has the Daily Learning Goal up on the other board, which students are also required to copy down. If there is time and my teacher-mentor does not need to set up lab supplies for the class, she is in the hallway greeting students and conversing with other teachers. As soon as she walks back into the classroom, she immediately encourages students to find their seats, pull out their notebooks and do the Do Now and copy the Daily Learning Goal. She takes attendance as the students are working, and if a student is absent she asks the class if they have seen that student to ask about their well-being. She started the day’s lesson by letting them know they would finally get to do the activity portion of the lab they have been talking about doing in the previous days. The students got excited as soon as they walked into the room because they saw lab equipment out. That day, we were testing brine shrimp hatching rates at different salinities. There was no homework from the previous night.
Major distractions to the start of class are the social nature of seventh graders and the class pets. The students wanted to talk to each other, so they did not immediately take their seats. Additionally, many students went over to check out Timmy the turtle and Daffodil the axolotl immediately when they entered the classroom. Many times I saw students look over at the pets during the lesson and it was difficult to pull them away from the pets at the start of the lesson. My teacher is good at grabbing attention by calling students out by name.
When I have my own classroom, I plan to greet all students by name and some sort of personal connection. For example, if I know a student is on the soccer team, I’d ask them how the game went, or if a student just got back from vacation I would ask them how it was. I think making meaningful connections with students helps pull them into class and care about learning. I much prefer having teachers I talk with and relate to than people I hardly know. I also hope to start class on time, set up an entry routine (like a daily Do Now etc.) and an exit routine. Students do better if they know a little bit about what to expect each day. As far as distracting class pets- I hope to have a fish tank but would not put it at the front of the room where the pet constantly takes student attention away from what is on the projector.
Major distractions to the start of class are the social nature of seventh graders and the class pets. The students wanted to talk to each other, so they did not immediately take their seats. Additionally, many students went over to check out Timmy the turtle and Daffodil the axolotl immediately when they entered the classroom. Many times I saw students look over at the pets during the lesson and it was difficult to pull them away from the pets at the start of the lesson. My teacher is good at grabbing attention by calling students out by name.
When I have my own classroom, I plan to greet all students by name and some sort of personal connection. For example, if I know a student is on the soccer team, I’d ask them how the game went, or if a student just got back from vacation I would ask them how it was. I think making meaningful connections with students helps pull them into class and care about learning. I much prefer having teachers I talk with and relate to than people I hardly know. I also hope to start class on time, set up an entry routine (like a daily Do Now etc.) and an exit routine. Students do better if they know a little bit about what to expect each day. As far as distracting class pets- I hope to have a fish tank but would not put it at the front of the room where the pet constantly takes student attention away from what is on the projector.